


A Year in the Life

by vLightnDarkv



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, YOI 1 Year Anniversary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 21:57:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12285174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vLightnDarkv/pseuds/vLightnDarkv
Summary: After the skating season ends, Yuuri and Victor think back on what the last year has meant to them.





	A Year in the Life

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote a thing. I wasn't going to, but after seeing all the art people were posting to celebrate the 1-year anniversary of Yuri on Ice I decided to make my own contribution. I wrote this in a few hours and haven't gone back to edit it, but hopefully it will still be enjoyable.
> 
> Happy one year anniversary Yuri on Ice!

After the Grand Prix Final the rest of the season seemed to fly by. Victor stayed on as my coach, I continued skating, and most importantly Victor returned to the ice. Although I think Victor briefly regretted that decision when we realized that nationals for Russia—where Victor had said he would make his comeback—and Japan overlapped each other. Right away Victor tried to backpedal, saying he could make his comeback at the European Championships instead but I was having none of that. I wasn’t the only one excited for him to come back after all, and while I wasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea of not having him by my side while I prepared for a competition, if we were going to make this work I needed to show him that I could be strong and make it through during the times we had to be separated. So I insisted that he return to Russia to resume his training under Yakov, because as brilliant as he is if he was going to be ready in such a short time he needed a coach.

Eventually he had agreed, but only after making me promise to send him videos of my practices for him to look over and critique. So every practice Axel, Lutz, and Loop would position them around the Ice Castle rink to record my practice and Victor and I would discuss what I was doing right and what I needed to work on every night when we talked. It wasn’t an ideal arrangement, but we managed to make it work.

When nationals came around I was surprised to find I wasn’t as nervous as I had expected to be. The nerves weren’t gone completely of course, but having the support of my friends and family, as well as knowing that Victor was cheering me on from Russia made them much easier to deal with. Any time I started to feel overwhelmed I would look to my ring and remind myself that I wasn’t alone. In the end, I took gold at nationals while Victor was just barely beaten out by Yurio, who took great pleasure in gloating about how he had beaten the living legend and told Victor he better get used to looking up because that’s what he would be doing from now on. Victor wasn’t bothered by it, in fact he was thrilled by Yurio’s win and couldn’t stop gushing over and praising him. Yurio had been annoyed by that.

Victor later told me that he hadn’t cared where he might place, though he admitted to being pleased at having done so well despite having been away from the ice for so long. Skating was finally fun for him again and he was overjoyed to feel that way again, but I could see the determined glint in his eyes and knew that his competitive drive had been reawakened as well. Sure enough, when the European Championships came around Victor was back in top form and though Yurio put up a good fight Victor took gold with a handful of points between them.

I didn’t fare quite as well at Four Continents. I still managed to bring home a medal, beating out Phichit for third and placing myself under JJ and Otabek. Yurio had given me an earful for that, wanting to know how I let that “pompous bastard” as he put it beat me. I hadn’t had an answer to give him. Victor had been more upset about my placement than I was, saying his own training had interfered with his coaching and that I never should have placed so low. He wasn’t entirely wrong, though I would never tell him that. Third wasn’t terrible, many would say it was respectable, but I knew I could do better. Victor and I just needed to find a proper groove, and smack in the middle of the season wasn’t exactly the best place for that. When I said as much to Victor he just said we would have to work harder.

By time Worlds came around I think we were both ready for the season to be over. We were tired, we were sore, and we were one bad training session away from blowing up at each other. Victor pushed me harder than ever, and himself even harder since he was essentially going it alone with Yakov back in Russia. Like he had done with me he would send Yakov videos of his practices and focus on the points where his coach said he needed work. But that solution only worked so far, if Victor was having trouble with a different part there was no one there for him to ask questions of. He didn’t want to ask me since I needed to focus on my own routines so a few times Victor would cut his own practice short out of frustration.

By some miracle we both placed, Victor of course with gold and me with silver. Yurio glared at us from the lowest podium, sore of course to have lost to both of us, but we were both too relieved to notice. We had a good laugh later on when we saw the photos of the medal ceremony. Now things had settled down, Victor and I were still in Hasetsu but after having a long talk and weighing our options we agreed to move my training to Russia so Victor could also be with his coach. It was sad knowing I would be leaving my family again, I hadn’t realized just how much I missed them until I came home, but I knew it was for the best. Victor needed his coach, the weeks leading up to Worlds was proof of that, and so long as I was with Victor it didn’t matter where I trained. It was going to be difficult balancing both our trainings, there were still a lot of things we needed to iron out, but for right now we were both content with enjoying a break before having to worry about any of that.

As I sat staring out at the ocean I found myself thinking back over everything that had happened since Victor had come storming into my life, had it really been a year already? Even though so much had happened I still sometimes had trouble believing it. Victor Nikiforov, the living legend of figure skating and the man I’ve idolized for half my life was my coach. 

Victor had come when I was at my lowest. He had dragged me up, given me the will to fight for what I wanted, and made me see the love and support I had been to blind to see all around me. All because I had been the socially awkward guy in the corner of a banquet hall drowning his sorrows in champagne. I felt my face heat up at the memory, even months after the revelation of that night I still didn’t know what to be most embarrassed about. Calling Yurio out to a dance off, stripping and pole dancing with Chris, or hanging all over Victor and requesting he be my coach. The whole thing was like an upgraded version of the nightmare teenagers sometimes had of showing up to class in their underwear. And yet, as embarrassing and humiliating as the whole ordeal was I was still glad it had happened. Victor was here because of that evening. He was my coach, my friend, and so much more. I looked down at my ring and smiled.

“There you are Yuuri.”

I blinked and looked up to see Victor walking towards me, a blanket wrapped snugly around his shoulders. My smile grew.

“Hey,” I said. “Were you looking for me?”

Victor nodded as he stopped to stand beside me.

“Your room was empty when I went to wake you this morning. Your mother said you got up about an hour ago and headed for the beach. Is everything all right?”

I nodded. “I’m fine, just thinking.”

Victor sat down next to me. “About what?”

“Just… everything that’s happened since we met. Well, since I remember meeting you anyway.”

Victor chuckled. “That’s a lot to be thinking about, any particular reason why?”

I shrugged. There was a reason but I was way too embarrassed to say it out loud. Today was the day when one year ago Victor had arrived at my family’s hot spring and declared himself my coach, the day my life had completely changed. It was a silly thing to remember, but that day had meant so much to me. I could still remember lying in bed that night, smiling like an idiot and feeling like my heart was going to burst out of my chest because of how happy I was. I was sure Victor didn’t remember, and I didn’t begrudge him for it. That day had far more meaning for me than it did for him after all.

That day sparked a change in me. I had been down, teetering at the brink of retirement, but when Victor arrived I was determined to prove myself, to him and the world that I was worth something. It hadn’t been easy, more than once I had wanted to call it quits but Victor wouldn’t allow it. He knew what I was capable of, knew how brightly I could shine of given the chance, and he was determined to give me that chance. I would forever be grateful to him.

I was jolted from my thoughts suddenly when Victor put his arm around my shoulders and drew me closer to him, wrapping us both in the blanket he had around him.

“You’re freezing. We should head in before you catch a cold.”

I hadn’t realized how cold I was until I had Victor’s warmth pressed against me, now that it was there I didn’t want to leave. So I scooted closer to him, wrapping my arms around his waist as I buried my face in his neck. He jumped slightly when my cold skin touched him.

“Not yet,” I mumbled.

I waited for him to argue, to insist we head inside, but after a moment he chuckled softly and tightened his hold on me. We sat like that for a long time, not saying a word just enjoying the peace that was each other. I wished we could stay like that forever. Eventually Victor let out a small laugh, I shifted so I could lift my head to look at him.

“What’s so funny?”

“I was just thinking of the last time we sat here. You were curled up on yourself, trying to keep as much distance between us as possible. Now look at us.”

I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder. “Well a lot has changed since then.”

Victor nodded as he rested his head against mine. “It certainly has. It feels like it only happened yesterday, but it was exactly one year ago I became your coach. Time sure flies.”

Our heads knocked together as mine shot up, but I hardly noticed the pain as I stared at Victor with wide eyes.

“Wait, you-?”

Victor rubbed the side of his head where mine had collided with his, but at the astonished look on my face he lowers his hand and smile.

“You didn’t really think I would forget, did you? That day was as important to me as the night of the banquet.” When I continued to stare he continued. “I told you before that I was floundering. I had lost my passion for skating and didn’t know what to do with myself. And then you quite literally came waltzing into my life and suddenly I had a new lease on life as it were. If I couldn’t surprise the audience anymore then maybe I could help someone else do it.”

Victor looked out towards the ocean, his face becoming somber. I looked at him, unsure if I shoulder say anything. After several moments of silence he spoke again.

“But then after the banquet I heard nothing from or about you again. I had been looking forward to seeing you at Worlds so we could properly discuss my becoming your coach, but you didn’t qualify and suddenly I was once again left not knowing what to do. When I did some digging I found out you had left your coach and rumors of you retiring were going around, which didn’t make sense since you had asked me to coach you. I wanted to reach out to you but didn’t know if I should. And then Yuuko’s girls posted that video and my mind was made up. I had to see you again and when I did well, I knew I had made the right decision.”

I felt tears prickling at my eyes and quickly wiped them away, he remembered, he actually remembered. Leave it to Victor to find yet another way to surprise me.

“Everything changed for me that day,” I said when I had regained my composure. “I didn’t understand why you were here, and I was sure you would eventually grow bored and go back to Russia. But once I got over the shock I decided that I would make the most of the time I had with you, that I would prove you weren’t wasting your time.”

Victor smiled. He took my hand and brought it up to kiss my ring.

“You did that and so much more.”

I returned the smile, lacing our fingers together before leaning in to place a chaste kiss on his lips. As I pulled away he followed, kissing me properly. It was slow and sweet, no heat behind it but completely perfect. When Victor had first come to Hasetsu I never would have dreamed we would be like this, and now that we were I couldn’t imagine us any other way. Victor had done so much for me in the last year, more than I would ever be able to thank him for, but I knew I had done just as much for him. We saved each other, inspired each other, completed each other. We weren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination but the last year had shown we didn’t need to be. There was no telling what the next year would hold, or the years after that, but I knew so long as we were together we could handle anything.

Something cold and wet fell against my cheek, breaking the spell Victor’s kiss had me under. Pulling away Victor and I looked at each other before lifting our gazes skyward as snow began to fall around us.

“Apparently mother nature knows how special today is as well,” Victor said. “It was snowing that day too.”

I lowered my gaze from the sky to look at him, Victor followed suit. After a moment we both started laughing.

“Let’s head in,” I said when the laughter had subsided. “I’ll make us hot cocoa.”

Victor smiled and got to his feet, offering his hand to help me up. Once standing he pulled me in and wrapped his arms around me, holding me close.

“I look forward to spending many more years with you Yuuri,” he whispered in my ear.

Tears prickled at my eyes again, but then time I let them as I returned Victor’s embraced and buried my face in his shoulder.

“Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> How you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! ^.^


End file.
